Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked corporates to clear the dues of MSMEs within the time frame of 45 days, reported ANI (Asian News International) on Thursday.
Sitharaman was holding a post-Budget interaction wherein she urged the industries to facilitate payments to MSMEs within the contract period. “Payment of dues cannot be sitting locked up. Payment should be made by all of us, government departments, PSUs, and government enterprises,” she noted.
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She further asked industries to utilise their potential and share their suggestions with the government as a regular practice to help the government in policy making.
“I want the Industry to be the prime mover with respect to the latest frontiers in the conversion of renewable energy, rare earth materials to usable technologies,” she said.
Highlighting the significance of the industry, Sitharaman said that the “Industry is what I would put first in any policy formulation,” adding that we could create a responsible policy for India to move forward only through inputs and ideas by the industry.
In the interaction, the industry body, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) members were invited. Sitharaman urged FICCI to look at the development phase of the country and at the blueprint of Amritkal that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid down during his Independence Day address.
“FICCI should identify the opportunities and challenges that the government has identified, as this will be a very valuable input for the next 25 years of policy framing, which should be consistent and have certainty,” she added.
In September last year too Sitharaman had asked the private sector to settle dues of MSMEs within 45 days of receiving the supplies to ease their liquidity concerns.
The MSME Act, 2006 specifies a 45-day credit period to the recipient of any goods or services to make payment to the MSME supplier. As per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, the rate of interest would be three times the bank rate for any delayed payment.
